US woman's murder after Aust holiday

A HUSBAND and wife who rented the house of a US woman are accused of killing her and leaving her body in a closet after she returned home from her Australian holiday.

Nancy Pfister, 57, was the daughter of the late Betty and Art Pfister, longtime residents of Aspen, Colorado, who co-founded the Buttermilk ski area west of town.

On Monday evening, authorities arrested William F Styler III, 65, and his 62-year-old wife Nancy Christine Styler at the Aspenalt Lodge in Basalt, where they were staying after apparently moving out of Pfister's home on February 22. Both face first-degree murder charges.

Authorities said the Stylers rented Pfister's West Buttermilk Road home during the autumn.

Pfister returned from a holiday in Australia on February 22, and she was found dead four days later. A friend discovered her body in an upstairs cupboard at Pfister's home on the evening of February 26. A cause of death has not yet been released.

Sheriff Joe DiSalvo said the investigation is ongoing, and he did not rule out the possibility of more arrests.

Aspen is a ski resort town in the Rocky Mountains, about 100 miles (161km) southwest of Denver.